Digital Art Zone

This never really was a problem before… well, before since DAZ had a bunch of sales! I find myself pretty much overwhelmed with the sheer number of models contained within far too many numerous folders in the content tab, and the smart content tab isn’t that much better off.

So, my question is, how do some of you who have a large number of models keep them all organized? Do you manually move them around in the directory, or do you do something within DAZ itself? I’d like to do some ‘spring cleaning’ soon and try to organize everything, but I am not really certain what the best way to go about it is.

In the past I reorganized the files on the hard drive—DAZ Studio never had the restrictions on file locations Poser did before Poser 8.  However, since Categories were introduced in DS2 I’ve used that method.  It allows you to categorize items in multiple categories, put DS and Poser versions of files together, and so forth, without danger of breaking the content.

I have top level categories for Animals, Hair, Props, Mil2, Mil3, Mil4, Genesis, and so on.

I’m with Mike, ever since Catagories in DS2, I’ve been a complete convert.  I’m also a bit CDO… That’s like OCD, but only alphabetical @$^*^#....

That seems like a pretty good idea. Thanks guys!  I will give it a shot and see how that works out

Runtime organization is a matter of personal preference. Some prefer multiple runtimes, some prefer one runtime and even then you can view it different ways in DS. Eventually you will need to get your hands dirty and start organizing yours. The main advantage of learning to organize it is that everything becomes easier to find. You will also learn the Poser Runtime hierarchy which will be very useful when dealing with freebies that were not packaged correctly.

My personal preference is to use a single runtime. I find it neater and faster to setup when reinstalling DS or Poser as a clean install with no previous registry entries left. To begin my method you will need two things:

1. A file compression utility like Winrar. (your choice)
2. One empty folder on your hard drive!
3. Patience and time!

I admit its time consuming upfront but this method will save you a ton of time later if you need to reinstall any amount of content later on. It also allows for combining packages and makes updating content easy as wll.

Whether you need to organize content that came as a zip file or a exe your first step will be to extract the contents to the chosen empty folder. After extraction is completed you can go in and organize your folders as you please including the renaming of folders if so desirered. (I am going to assume you already have an understanding of the hierarchy) Once organization is complete, go to the folder level above the runtime folder and select all relevant files and folders (runtime, readme, ect…) and compress them using the utility of choice. Once that is done, you now have a pre-organized package of your content that can be quickly and easily installed to any location you disire. To unpack this in your runtime make sure you choose the Content Folder as the destination if using DS.

Now from there it will be up to you if you keep the original downloaded file but I personaly do not. Regardless or zip or exe, once I have my organized package, I delete the original (as long as I did it right) since its redundant.

When installing a massive amount of content you will find this method extremely fast and far less mind boggling then running each installer over and over for two reasone. First (using Winrar) you can select an entire folder full of compressed packages and tell Winrar to extract to (in my case) E:\xDaz\Studio\Content\ and from there all i do is wait for the first warning of overwriting a file and choose to either do so nor not to all and let it go from there. Its automated and I dont have to babysit it. Secondly, its organized!!!!!!! I dont have to go back and redo the whole process. Very handy for runtimes of any size! Did I mention its organized?

Now for combining packages some of it can be straight forward. For example, if you want to combine Baby Doll Hair with the Love Me Tender package you simple install both to the empty folder at the same time and organize and compress. Its very simple. If you want to combine the Gen4 character packs its just as easy as long as you remember to install the base character first and remember to let the installer initialize the files as well. This also allows for easy addition of newer figures later on.

To give an example of how my runtime is organzed I attached several images. The first is my Figures Folder, the second is the Aiko3 Folder and subfolders in Figures and the third is the Aiko3 Folder in Poses.

http://forumarchive.daz3d.com/postimages/origimage_1_2301531.jpg
http://forumarchive.daz3d.com/postimages/origimage_2_2301531.jpg
http://forumarchive.daz3d.com/postimages/image_3_2301531.jpg

fixmypcmike - 19 June 2012 10:07 PM

However, since Categories were introduced in DS2 I’ve used that method.  It allows you to categorize items in multiple categories, put DS and Poser versions of files together, and so forth, without danger of breaking the content.

I have top level categories for Animals, Hair, Props, Mil2, Mil3, Mil4, Genesis, and so on.

That’s exactly the same way I’ve been doing it since Studio 2. I have 1 single Content (Runtime) tree and use it for everything from poser through the last 3 versions of Studio.Then Sort into Catagories as I install new stuff in Studio (Versions 2-4).

I have too much content to organize it through Studio. I’m using Smart Content only for Genesis and Studio stuff that is specifically for DS4.

If a product has both Studio and Poser files (with only a few exceptions including Maclean and Songbird stuff) I install the Poser files in a runtime and use only the mat files from the Studio install which I combine with the Poser mat files using one of Richard Haseltine’s scripts. (everything installed to a temporary folder first.)

I organize all the Poser files into the character library. IE, Vicky 4 has a folder in character, under which are folders for POSES, MATMOR, CLOTHES, EXPRESSIONS, etc.

Each set of clothing has its own folder inside the CLOTHES folder (with some figures I have made different categories under CLOTHES). All the mats and props that go along with that piece of clothing are placed inside that clothing’s folder. The name of the vendor is appended to the name of the clothing.

And so on.

I also have a separate runtime for sets and props, critters toons and animals, and one just for hair. In all cases files only reside in the character library.

I’ve been doing this for years already so not about to change now. Except for, as I said, Genesis.

Spit - 20 June 2012 04:13 PM

I have too much content to organize it through Studio. I’m using Smart Content only for Genesis and Studio stuff that is specifically for DS4.

If a product has both Studio and Poser files (with only a few exceptions including Maclean and Songbird stuff) I install the Poser files in a runtime and use only the mat files from the Studio install which I combine with the Poser mat files using one of Richard Haseltine’s scripts. (everything installed to a temporary folder first.)

I organize all the Poser files into the character library. IE, Vicky 4 has a folder in character, under which are folders for POSES, MATMOR, CLOTHES, EXPRESSIONS, etc.

Each set of clothing has its own folder inside the CLOTHES folder (with some figures I have made different categories under CLOTHES). All the mats and props that go along with that piece of clothing are placed inside that clothing’s folder. The name of the vendor is appended to the name of the clothing.

And so on.

I also have a separate runtime for sets and props, critters toons and animals, and one just for hair. In all cases files only reside in the character library.

I’ve been doing this for years already so not about to change now. Except for, as I said, Genesis.

That’s how I used to organize things, all files under Character, organized under there in much the same way you do.  When DS2 introduced Categories I just created Categories out of those folders under Character, so it was easy to switch.  I’ve actually begun moving my content back into the default locations—it makes it easier when someone asks a question to know where the default file locations are, and it allows me to use my own scheme (via Categories) as well as Metadata.

I organized my content by the DAZ Categories system. But I have problems with the system. If my computer starts from standby the categories are gone. I have organized content but now the system does not work even I start the PC.
I use the latest DAZ version; DAZ Studio 4.5 Pro. No Virus or anything bad was found. And I did not change the program files.

Do anybody have the same problems or a solution?

Take a look at the Content Library tab—if there’s no triangle next to Categories, then the Content Management Service isn’t running.  Shut down DS4, then go to Start > All Programs > DAZ 3D > DAZ Content Management Service and click on “Start DAZ Content Management Service”.

fixmypcmike - 20 June 2012 07:14 PM

Spit - 20 June 2012 04:13 PM

I have too much content to organize it through Studio. I’m using Smart Content only for Genesis and Studio stuff that is specifically for DS4.

If a product has both Studio and Poser files (with only a few exceptions including Maclean and Songbird stuff) I install the Poser files in a runtime and use only the mat files from the Studio install which I combine with the Poser mat files using one of Richard Haseltine’s scripts. (everything installed to a temporary folder first.)

I organize all the Poser files into the character library. IE, Vicky 4 has a folder in character, under which are folders for POSES, MATMOR, CLOTHES, EXPRESSIONS, etc.

Each set of clothing has its own folder inside the CLOTHES folder (with some figures I have made different categories under CLOTHES). All the mats and props that go along with that piece of clothing are placed inside that clothing’s folder. The name of the vendor is appended to the name of the clothing.

And so on.

I also have a separate runtime for sets and props, critters toons and animals, and one just for hair. In all cases files only reside in the character library.

I’ve been doing this for years already so not about to change now. Except for, as I said, Genesis.

That’s how I used to organize things, all files under Character, organized under there in much the same way you do.  When DS2 introduced Categories I just created Categories out of those folders under Character, so it was easy to switch.

Same…my set up looks like a poor man’s version of Adam’s. I’m still organising it to my satisfaction, but I love that I can have everything relating to a particular asset in the one folder. So if I’m looking for a short hair I go to Default\Hair\Static\Short and look for the file. All the poses and mats files are neatly in the same folder. Makes things so much easier.